‘Ignore rumour of attacks… cast your vote where you are’ — Kanayo charges Igbos outside south-east 

Kanayo O Kanayo has charged the Igbo people outside the south-east region of Nigeria to vote in their respective places of residence.

In a video shared via Instagram on Tuesday, the ace actor also urged people of Igbo extraction to ignore any rumour that suggests they should leave their locations of residence for safety reasons pending when the election season is over.

During elections, citizens are only allowed to vote in the state where they’re registered to do so, often being their location of residence.

In the post, Kanayo claimed that rumours are spreading about safety and security in what he described as a “deliberate ploy to cut down the number of available voters who are of Igbo descent.”

The film star also alleged that the rumours are geared towards reducing the number of Igbo people available to vote in the February 2023 presidential election — by making them exit their respective states for the east for safety reasons.

“I make this post as a member of the presidential campaign council of the Labour Party but target it at Igbos. We have to preach to the Igbos who reside outside the southeast to stay put wherever they reside,” Kanayo said.

“All these rumours of war and attacks are geared towards putting fear into the Igbos to leave where they are.

“And that’s not going o work. They want them to flee to the east and return after the elections.

“This video is to speak boldness into our southeast brother and sisters to make them understand that he who fights and runs away liv s to fight another day.

“Do not try to make any attempt to stay out of where you reside because that’s a design to reduce our numbers. We don’t have to die many times before our death. Only a fool does.”

 

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Kanayo also quoted some figures he attributed to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) which he said demonstrates that the voters’ strength of the Igbos can increase the chances of Peter Obi, presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), at the election.

“It is very critical, this election, that we stay put wherever we are. That’s the only way 25% of votes in the 36 states of the federation can be guaranteed for our brother Peter Obi,” he added.

“He rose from a man of the southeast extraction to a national movement. That we must accept.”

Obi, a politician of Igbo extraction, is contesting in next month’s presidential election.

The former Anambra governor has garnered massive support, with southeastern Nigeria being something of a stronghold for him.

Nigeria’s three-year civil war of the late 1960s and the persisting influence of secessionist groups in the south-east has long fueled sentiments in the country’s politics about the struggle to achieve a president of Igbo extraction.

Obi’s securing of LP’s presidential ticket and his successive campaigns, for the average Igbo citizen, reignites hope in the possibility of achieving an Igbo president to address an existing grudge about “political marginalisation”.